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It’s been hard lately. A LOT has been going on – and most of it has been stressful. And it has taken it’s toll on me.

I try my best to stay strong and not show that I’m hurting. I don’t know why I hide my feelings so much. My guess is I don’t want to look weak – and I don’t want to scare people away. We’ve all had a Debbie Downer in our life before – and I don’t want to be her. I don’t want to be the person everyone avoids. I want to be happy, strong and put together – even though that’s the farthest from what I feel right now.

So the past few weeks, there have been times when my emotions got the best of me. As much as I’ve tried to put them in a tiny box far, far away from the surface – they find there way out.

One day I decided to take my son to the playground. We got in the car – drove there – and he immediately had a meltdown and wanted to go home. I don’t know why. He’s 2 – so he probably doesn’t know why either. But I so wanted to be out of the house that I didn’t read his mood and figure out that a trip to the playground was probably not the best idea. So we immediately went back into the car and drove home in rush hour traffic. I cried and cried and cried the whole time. My emotions could no longer be contained. I was trying so hard to stay busy and not feel – that when my son had his breakdown it made me slow down and feel my own emotions. I had stopped crying by the time we got home. It felt good – but not enough.

Then there was the day when my son was suppose to go to summer camp (which he LOVES) but instead woke up with a tummy bug (the bottom kind). So instead of running a few errands to get ready for upcoming Fathers Day, and then coming home to relax – I spent my day changing disgusting diapers and doing laundry. As I hoped into the shower after he went down for his nap, all I wanted to do was sit in the tub and cry and cry and cry. I didn’t. I don’t know why. I guess I had pushed my feelings back just enough not to.

Why is it that we are afraid to say help, I’m sad, I’m scared, I’m having difficulty coping, I’m alone. Why must we try to live our lives as if they are constantly on social media – happy and perfect? Why must we try to be super heros – taking on all tasks without the blink of an eye – nothing bothers us – we can do it all? Because we can’t. We are not superheros. We are people. Humans. With feelings. With limits. With boundaries.

And why is that the only way I can verbalize this is in secret Facebook groups where no one I actually know is a member – or on a completely anonymous blog post? Why does this have to be such a secret? WE ALL STRUGGLE. WE ALL BREAK DOWN. AND WE ALL DUST OURSELVES OFF AND BECOME OUR HAPPY SELVES AGAIN.

Is this what happened to the recent stars – Kate Spade, Anthony Bourdain? Could they not tell their truths because of the image it would provoke? And they felt the only way out was to leave this Earth?

I don’t want that to happen to anyone. Ever. But it happens so much. It happens too much.

We need to stop the glorification of superheros. We need to realize that being human means having ups and downs, good times and bad, and being there for each other for all the moments.

I’ve always had a bit of anxiety. When I was a kid, it was more of a social anxiety. As I’ve aged, I’ve learned techniques to deal with social anxiety. But as I learn to deal with one type of anxiety, another one rears it’s ugly head. After social anxiety came choosing a career path anxiety, after that came living on my own anxiety, etc. etc. so and so on.

Lately, as I’m settled in my job and my personal life, a new anxiety has popped up. Anxiety of strange medical conditions.

Let me preface this by saying I am the person who has weird things happen to them – whether personally or medically.

Just as an example, I have a rare food allergy – it’s a dietary nickel allergy. Yes, I am very allergic to the metal nickel and can not wear jewelry, watches, etc with nickel in it. And that has turned into a food allergy. Nickel is a natural compound found in the soil, and so it is absorbed by food that grows in the soil. Those foods with a naturally high nickel content cause me to have an allergic reaction. It’s crazy – it’s rare – and I have it.

So when you have a kid, your anxiety naturally raises for the health and wellbeing of your child. Add that on to an already anxiety-prone personality, and things can get a little out of control.

I’ve been spending a ton of time googling things that I’m worried about with my son. I won’t go into specifics, because it’s just a worry of mine. No medical professional has said anything about it – and when I talk to others they don’t agree with me. So most likely (and hopefully) it’s just my anxious mind.

The other day, I was “multi-tasking” as many people do. I was cooking some food for my son for the week – which is a lot of boiling frozen veggies – while googling away on the topic of my concern. While in the throws of my vicious google circle – a plastic slotted spoon had fallen into the flame on my gas stove. And I was so caught up in my obsession that I didn’t notice until most of the spoon had melted away on the stove, the pot, the pot lid, etc.

I had a mini-breakdown as I was taking all the melted plastic covered kitchen supplies outside to get the fumes/smell out of my home. I called my husband and lost it. Not my finest moment at all.

So since then I’ve sworn off google for this topic. Because really – is google going to help me solve this problem (if it is one)? Is google going to prevent this from being a problem (if it is?) No. Is google going to make me miss out on some precious moments with my son? Is google going to make my life more chaotic than it needs to be? Yes.

So from now on, Google is off limits for topics that can send me into a worry-spiral. It is to be used for research for work, shopping, email and fun items only!

Right now the little boy is lying in his crib playing with his feet. I love that view on the monitor! He’s so happy and content – and flexible!!

After not working out a bit last week, I was determined to start the week of on a better foot. Well, Monday didn’t happen but it rarely does. I have a ton of work tasks to do on Monday so really I think of Tuesday as the start of my week.

Tuesday did happen. Boy did it happen. I went to my normal group exercise class even though I had a ton on my mind and didn’t really want to go. But lying in bed Tuesday morning, asking God to give me strength and guidance for the day ahead, for some reason a vision of me doing the speed skater exercise popped into my head. I don’t know why – but I took that as a sign from at least my subconscious that I need to go exercise that day. (And no, we did not do any speed skaters)

My mind wandered the whole class – my body was going, but my mind was elsewhere. And I think that made me work out harder than I normally would have. Because boy oh boy are my muscles sore today!

So with my mind a little bit clearer today after a 2 hour phone call to my Mom, I decided to do some yoga stretching. And my muscles did not want to move! But it was good for them – even as I sit here envying my son’s flexibility I’m happy I went. While I’m no where near as flexible as I was pre-pregnancy, my muscles are much happier now than they were before.

So all in all a good start to the week. (Besides the mind clutter that I can’t stop from freaking me out!)